Manta coaster by the numbers

43 mph

Maximum speed

3 to 4

Maximum vertical G force

1 min., 56 sec.

Ride duration

54 feet

Maximum drop

2,835 feet

Track length

1,400

Passenger capacity per hour

Source: SeaWorld San Diego

A new roller coaster meant to mimic the sensation of a manta ray gliding through the water — complete with a 54-foot plunge — will debut in May of next year at SeaWorld San Diego, the theme park is announcing today.

Described as the park’s first “pure” roller coaster, the Manta ride was inspired by a similar attraction at the Orlando park but will have its own unique features, including a launch station where huge images of manta rays will be visible on a giant, 270-degree screen via a state-of-the-art projection system.

Although the San Diego park already has one coaster ride, Journey to Atlantis, SeaWorld officials describe it more as a water ride with a drop element than a conventional roller coaster.

Construction on the attraction, to be located in the northwest corner of the park just north of Rocky Point Preserve, is expected to get under way within a month.

“The Orlando Manta ride has been tremendously successful and has been a part of the inspiration for the Manta ride here in San Diego,” said SeaWorld San Diego President John Reilly. “We’re constantly working to energize the park and bring new guests here, and a great deal of research goes into these decisions. Certainly this concept has been in development for years.”

Reilly would not say how much the attraction will cost the park, but he acknowledged it is in the tens of millions of dollars.

Because of a 30-foot height limitation that governs most of the coast of San Diego, the ride will not exceed 30 feet, but the park will excavate 24 feet in order to create a 54-foot drop, as well as a water feature that the coaster will pass over. The California Coastal Commission is scheduled to review the project on Friday, and its staff has recommended approval. So far, no opposition has surfaced, the commission said.

Once the coaster is completed, riders, seated two across on a 20-seat train shaped like a manta, will navigate more than a dozen twists and turns but never touch water or be splashed by it. However, water effects will be incorporated into the ride to simulate a ray spraying water.

While SeaWorld’s announcement focuses on the coaster, the park also is planning to remake its existing Forbidden Reef exhibit where some 50 bat rays are on view in the touch pool. In the new exhibit, there will be 65 bat rays, plus 10 guitar fish and more than 400 other fish.

The park also will completely redo the existing underwater viewing area, which currently allows visitors to see an exhibit of moray eels but not the bat rays. Once transformed, the new, more brightly lighted underground area will have eight acrylic windows offering a clear view of the bat rays and will be themed to resemble being beneath a pier on the water’s edge. It is also in this area where there will be a number of “interpretive, educational elements,” including video monitors, touch screens, graphics, narrators and life-size ray displays.”

Those elements, says SeaWorld, help fulfill its mission to be a marine-themed institution that educates the public about sea life, while also complying with a city lease requirement that 75 percent of the park’s attractions contain either an educational, conservation or animal element.

“The average visitor doesn’t care about city requirements,” said Robert Niles, editor of Theme Park Insider. “They care about whether it’s going to be an entertaining theme park. And SeaWorld wants to put out rides that entertain.

“The more you can do to diversify your offerings the broader base you can appeal to. They’re competing with Disneyland, Wild Animal Park and Six Flags. Blending a roller coaster into an animal environment is something that the SeaWorld brand does well, but their rides are not nearly as intense as what you’d find at Six Flags.”